Welcome to the Exceptional Nurse Blog! I am Donna Maheady, EdD, ARNP, founder of www.ExceptionalNurse.com, the nonprofit resource committed to inclusion of people with disabilities in nursing. We facilitate inclusion of students with disabilities in nursing education programs and foster resilience and continued practice for nurses who are, or become, disabled. We celebrate abilities, share resources and examples of nurses with disabilities who work with and without accommodations.

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Saturday, September 10, 2016

Deaf Nurse helping to break the sound barrier

Lucy Eels, RN Lucy Eels shared her story in a blog post for "Break the Sound Barrier" the Australian national campaign to make hearing health and well-being a national health priority.

"During my three years course I have faced many challenges
as a deaf student. For example, the loop system was never turned on and despite
my effort communicating with the disability officer nothing was done about it
which meant I missed out on a lot of information in classes. There was lack of
support for a deaf person in place, I was informed that I was the first person
to be deaf and to attended that particular university which resulted in many
issues due to lack of deaf awareness."

"During my 2nd year placement I was asked to wear a badge
saying ‘I am deaf,’ what gives my mentor the right to request this? You
wouldn’t ask a person of different race to wear a badge saying, for example, ‘I
am black.’ It is wrong. I obviously declined her request to wear the badge. She
went on to explain that it would be very unsafe for me to practice without a
badge, just because I was deaf. I had many health assessments completed prior
to starting my course and passed these requirements.""I managed to complete my course and landed my first job as a
nurse on a general mixed surgical and medical ward, everything went well.""It is highly likely that I will face further challenges if
we don’t act now. We must raise awareness and break the sound barrier together
as a team. I would like to see people with hearing loss having the same equal
rights as hearing people. My message to the public is that people with hearing
loss are more than capable of working in a health setting whether you’re
considering to become a nurse, doctor, occupational therapy and etc."